Legacy Community Health Services is a Federally Qualified Health Center that provides quality, compassionate healthcare in a culturally sensitive and judgment free environment. Our comprehensive healthcare services include general primary care, eye care, psychiatry, dermatology, family planning, specialty care, and wellness services. Legacy's team of healthcare professionals--physicians, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists, ophthalmologists, optometrists, social workers, nutritionists, and nurses--custom tailor services to meet the needs of each patient regardless of age, sex, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or ability to pay. We accept Medicaid, Medicare, and most health insurance plans. As a Federally Qualified Health Center we offer many of our services on a sliding fee scale.
With an annual budget over $15 million, we serve more than 20,000 adults, seniors and adolescents each year at three convenient Houston locations.
Community Health Centers
Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), are local, nonprofit or public entity, community-owned healthcare providers serving low-income and medically underserved communities. All community health centers charge patients on a sliding fee scale based on ability to pay, even if the patient has no money. To compensate, community health centers rely on larger Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, on federal, state and local grants, and on private donations.
Community health centers arose from President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty, in which the federal government helped set up neighborhood clinics in impoverished rural and urban areas. Today more than 3,800 community health centers provide basic healthcare services to 15 million people, regardless of ability to pay. Patients are evenly split between rural areas and inner cities. About 70 percent live at or below the poverty line. Three quarters have no insurance or are on Medicaid.
For 40 years, FQHCs have provided high-quality, affordable primary care and preventive services to populations who, even if insured, remain isolated from traditional forms of medical care because of where they live, who they are, the language they speak, and/or their high levels of complex healthcare needs. Health centers improve access to care for millions of Americans regardless of insurance status or ability to pay. FQHCs provide services many other providers do not, such as transportation, translation, and culturally sensitive healthcare that can overcome common barriers.